I waited in line from 5,15 until 8,40 and I only got to see 4 players, Doan stayed and met everyone (best Captain in all of sports) i totally understood players had to get home to family, but it was a let down. God bless Doan, he will talk, take photos and do whatever any fan asks. But it holds up the line when 2,000 people want individual photos.

Shame, I'd have thought they would have stayed. We got there just before five and met 'em all (Whitney couldn't make it). Long line though, we started around the Chop house and after we got in by the stair area, we could see the line went past the team shop.... yikes!

It was funny... the players telling us that Doan needs his own session, cause he talks so much. Did Torres, Vrbata, Bissonette, Morris, Yandle and Hanzal started walking down the line (instead of sitting and waiting), did they not go through the entire line?

There are some other perks from time to time. For example some years on Trade Deadline day the trade forum may be restricted that only sponsors and mods can start new threads. Everyone can still post in an existing thread, but the limitation helps reduce the number of duplicate threads when a big trade takes place.

I feel like most people who buy lottery tickets know the odds are long, but the people who buy them regularly do so for one of two reasons:

1) They like to dream. My mom's long-term (more than a decade now, and they'd be common law married in some states) boyfriend is a fairly well off guy who should be able to retire comfortably in only a few years, but he buys a lottery ticket every Friday, not because he has any expectation of winning (he's in the insurance business and has a pretty good sense of odds and risk and all that) but because he likes to imagine what he would do if he were that rich.

2) The odds of winning the lottery are long, but they perceive their odds of climbing a few rungs on the economic ladder are even longer. Depending on your worldview, this is either defeatist or pragmatic, but it's understandable regardless.